


Take My Hand

by Elri (angelrider13)



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Luffy being all sunshine and rainbows, Robin being very confused by it all, Sabo and Ace just go along with it, Suicide Attempt, past self-harm
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2014-10-12
Packaged: 2018-02-20 00:23:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2408357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelrider13/pseuds/Elri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She’s broken; shattered beyond repair. But he still reaches for her even as she falls. He still pulls her up and helps her stand. And never once does he let go of her hand.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. She Fell

**Author's Note:**

> This fic will deal with suicide, self harm, depression, and possibly abuse. If any of that triggers you PLEASE do not read this story or at least be careful while doing so. Nothing in this story will be explicit, but it will be very heavily implied in some places.
> 
> That said, please enjoy.

It was beautiful.

The sun was bright, even as it moved closer and closer to the horizon. Its light shone on the sea, dancing across the waves, making the water seem alive.

It was beautiful.

It was peaceful.

She sighed with forbidden longing. An hour she had been standing there, just watching as the sun sank lower and lower and the sky grew darker and darker. And just as she had expected, not a single person had approached her. No one talked to the strange girl standing on the edge of the bridge staring out at the sea. She suspected no one wanted too; she was no one special after all. She was no one, she was nothing. Just a shadow. Just a breath of air as fleeting as the wind. She was unwanted, unloved.

This was for the best.

It was the only option left.

She was _so tired_. She just wanted it to end. She couldn’t keep living like this, if it could even be called living. She was tired of running, of chasing after a hopeless dream. There was nothing left, nothing but ashes and dust and the bitter taste of betrayal. All around her was darkness; it was cold and unforgiving and she couldn’t take it anymore.

She was broken.

And she knew she couldn’t be fixed.

She wasn’t sure she wanted to be.

It was too hard now, she wanted it to end.

She looked up and saw the stars. They used to mean something once upon a time: hope, dreams, imagination, she can’t quite remember. And it aches. She is so tired of that ache, the one that never goes away, the wound that people kept ripping open until she built an iron wall around it. But then they still found ways to hurt her. She didn’t want to hurt anymore. She didn’t want to feel.

She took a breath.

And stepped off the bridge.


	2. But He Reached Out

She was falling.

There was a rush of weightlessness and the pounding of her heart jumped up into her throat.

She was falling.

The wind caressed her face and the air rushed past her ears.

She was falling.

Everything was finally _ending_.

She smiled.

She was falling.

Only for her arm to be wrenched painfully upwards, jerking her body to a halt. The air stilled and the world came crashing back to her – the sounds of the rushing cars above her, the break of the waves below her. There was a hand clamped tightly around her wrist, fingers digging into her skin, fire racing up her arm. She screamed and the hand pulled.

She wanted to fall, for the hand to let go, for the rush of the wind to come back, for everything to end. She wanted to struggle and hit and _make_ the hand drop her, but her body, her traitorous body, had other ideas. Her hand reached out and grasped the arm holding her here, the hand that wouldn’t let her go, wouldn’t let her die. The hand that was pulling her up.

She was back on the bridge.

She wasn’t falling.

Her eyes burned and everything hurt and there was this _sound_ and oh that was her. She was screaming. Why was she screaming? All she knew was that it hurt and she just wanted it to _stop_ and what was so wrong about that? Why couldn’t she just _let go_? That was all she wanted. That was it. It was something so _simple_. So why wouldn’t anyone let her have it?

And then the hand was back, snaking around her shoulders and pulling against something warm. So very warm.

Her head jerked up and she vaguely realized that she had been huddled on the ground crying. But none of that really mattered when she found herself staring up into warm brown eyes. It was a boy, a boy who couldn’t be any older than sixteen. He was thin and lanky with all the awkwardness of teen going through puberty. He was even dressed in a school uniform: black slacks, white button-up shirt, navy blazer, blue tie. There was scar under his left eye, but other than that, everything was perfect and in place.

What could someone like this possibly know about someone like her?

Why would someone like him reach out to someone like her?

He was whole, untouched, unblemished, perfect.

She was broken. Shattered beyond repair.

Why?

A slight frown was tugging at his lips on his otherwise blank face.

Why?

But then he smiled so suddenly, she was left reeling. It was so _bright_. So very bright and pure and _happy_.

“Hi! I’m Luffy!” he said as he smiled at _her_.

She just stared at him. Why?

He tilted his head to the side and gave her a curious look. “Cause you were going to hurt yourself, silly,” he said matter-of-factly, and she realized she had asked out loud, “People aren’t supposed to jump off bridges.”

“I-it was on purpose!” she managed to stutter, not sure what she was supposed to be feeling. Was she supposed to be angry at him? Was she supposed to be upset? Sad? How was she supposed to react? How would he react? Would he push her away in disgust or would he try to provide false words of comfort to convince her to stop?

He didn’t do any of that.

He just smiled again, softer than the first, his eyes kind and understanding. “I know,” he said simply.

And that just threw any possible expectations she had out the window. He _what_? He didn’t know. He couldn’t. He was whole, not broken like she was. He couldn’t possibly know, couldn’t possibly understand.

“No you don’t,” she all but hissed, the anger in her voice surprising her. She just wanted to let go and then this boy came along and pulled her back and she _didn’t ask him to_ and it wasn’t fair and who gave him the right to decide for her?

But Luffy’s smile didn’t falter, didn’t change. It was still soft and gentle and _kind_.

“Okay,” he said.

And just like that all of the anger rushed from her lungs.

“Hey,” he said, grabbing her wrists and pulling her up, “You should come have dinner with me.”

She blinked, heat rushing to her cheeks. “Huh? B-but – ”

“Don’t worry,” he said as he tugged her along, throwing a warm grin over his shoulder, “The bridge isn’t going anywhere. It will still be here tomorrow.”

She didn’t know what it was.

She didn’t know why she did it.

She wrapped her fingers around his and he laced them together like it was the most natural thing in the world.

She reached out and took his hand.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts? Concerns? Feelings? Let me know!


End file.
